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Sometimes, despite our best intentions, things go wrong during the day-to-day operations of running a Dental Office.

How we deal with events that do not go to plan is what makes or breaks us as to whether or not our Dental Office is truly World Class or not.

In these situations, the way we make amends for things that have not gone as planned will often stick in the minds of our clients and customers and patients for a far longer period of time than when things do go to plan.

And rest assured, despite our best intentions, there will always be events that occur with our patients that in hindsight, we wish we could have handled in a better manner.

Having an office plan, or protocol, for when things do not go to plan is paramount if we want our business to be held in high regards by our customers and patients.

Looking thoroughly through the processes and stages that each patient experiences during each of their visits to your office, and anticipating where things can or could unravel, goes a long way towards creating *Service Recovery* Moments that Wow your patients and get them talking about your office’s World Class Customer Service.

How your team responds when things go awry will be remembered by your patients far longer than days when everything runs like clockwork.

Anticipating points of challenge, and knowing how to deal with those challenges ahead of time is the key to creating a Magical Moment out of a Service Defect.

But it’s not just identifying the main areas where things can go pear shaped.

It’s about identifying every possible place where the wheels might fall off…..

Because smooth, seamless, Service Recovery is your office’s “Priceless” moment.

That’s what you want your patients telling their friends about.

For example, you’d rather have your patients saying:

“My dentist sometimes runs late, and keeps me waiting past my appointment time, but when he does, he always sends me flowers/movie tickets/a small gift etc. with a hand written thank you card that thanks me for my understanding, that sometimes, some days, things occur at the dental office that throw him behind….

How much nicer does that sound, compared to something like:

“My dentist always runs behind, and when I finally get to see him he’s always in a rush….. and there’s never an apology…. from anyone at his office….”

It is said that the number one reason that patients leave our dental offices and seek treatment elsewhere is apathy, and perceived apathy from our staff and team members towards those valued clients.

I believe that the major reason for that perceived apathy is lack of training and lack of planning and anticipation.

How on earth can we expect to create a Magical Moment out of a Service Defect if we haven’t trained and planned what to do at those moments when things can go differently to how we would like them?

Because World Class Service Recovery never happens by chance.

It is anticipated, and is ready to be implemented at every opportunity that it is needed.

Does your office have a scripted contingency plan for when a patient arrives for an appointment that is scheduled for another day?

Or do your team just bumble around, making the poor patient feel embarrassed for turning up on the wrong day, or at the wrong time…

Or worse still, what is your office’s Service Recovery plan for when a patient arrives for an appointment that our team has failed to record correctly in our appointment book?

It is these small but important make or break moments, and how we deal with them, that really make the difference to our valued clients and customers.

One small error, or moment of apathy or perceived apathy, can go a long way toward instantly unraveling years and years of built up trust and care.

You must have a plan.

A thorough and complete plan.

Because things do happen. And will happen.

And when they do, we must be ready.

Ready to Wow!

And not be full of excuses. And blame.

Preparation is the key.

And you will be prepared, thoroughly prepared, if you truly care.

Having a contingency plan, a strategy for when things go wrong, speaks volumes to your customers and patients that your Dental Office really does care.

And patients really do feel that care….

Creating World Class Service Recovery is just one part of The Ultimate Patient Excellence, a simple to build complete Customer Service system in itself that I developed that allowed me to create an extraordinary dental office in an ordinary Sydney suburb.  If you’d like to know more, ask me about my free special report.

Email me at david@theupe.com

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